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There’s no testing kit we can use to compare how well two FreeSync screens perform in adaptive-sync mode, but we can fire up some games and relate a subjective view of their performance.
We tried a few games with FreeSync turned off, in standard 144Hz mode, with an Nvidia card, then again with FreeSync turned on with an AMD card, a Sapphire Vapor-X R290X.
The first game we tried in 144Hz was an old one, Battlefield Bad Company 2 (arguably the best Battlefield game yet.) Firing up a quick round of multiplayer, the option for 144Hz was presented in the menu, and when in the game, movement was noticeably silky smooth, and felt better than playing on a 60Hz fixed-refresh monitor. It also seemed to help with gun accuracy and improved reaction times slightly.
We loaded Civilization: Beyond Earth, just to see what the effect would be in a slow-paced title. Although there’s no fast-paced action in a turn-based strategy game, we observed some odd behaviour. After choosing the correct refresh rate in the menu, the game was still running at 60Hz. Alt-tabbing out and back in got it running at the full 144Hz, and it seemed to considerably speed up the camera. We guess this counts as a bug, but it does show that not all games work perfectly at 144Hz and developers may need to put in extra effort to get them working properly.
We then tried Counterstrike: Global Offensive, a game which is extremely popular with enthusiast gamers. We love gaming, but we’re not exactly the best Counterstrike players in the world and I had my ass handed to me. Nevertheless, the effect was fairly similar to Battlefield: Bad Company 2, with smoother overall movement than you get with 60Hz, but in some scenes there was some noticeable tearing without adaptive sync.
Then we played some games with FreeSync enabled.
Battlefield 4 in high detail did not maintain a constant 144fps and was dipping between 40 and 70fps, depending on the scene. It was at its lowest in open areas surrounded with buildings on ‘Siege Of Shanghai’ with multiple vehicles and explosions going off, with the frame rate becoming choppy. It was made all the more obvious because of the ultra-smooth movement in other, less detailed environment.
We did encounter an issue with the screen occasionally going blank for a second during Battlefield 4, then the picture reappearing again. This could be a driver problem, and it didn’t happen in other games with FreeSync enabled.
We also tried Sim City (2013) as another example of a slower game, and the camera movement, zooming and panning seemed to be ultra smooth. A definite improvement.
While this report is hardly a scientific test, and it’s only a tiny selection of titles, it does show that not all games behave perfectly with AMD FreeSync or 144Hz, but the issues are relatively minor, and we feel it’s something we could still live with.
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How can a TN be better for gaming comparing to mg279q? IPS is always better with its image quality.
TN is better for competitive gaming because of it’s 1ms response time, such as FPS or RTS.
IPS is better for cinematic experience because of its wider range of colors, such as RPG.
Too expensive for TN. These TN panels need a price drop, they’ve been stagnant for years. A 24″ 1080p 144hz TN should be $199 and a 27″ 1440p 144hz TN should be $299.
I also encounter the issue where the monitor occasionally goes black for a few seconds. For me it seems to be indirectly related to GPU load, and more specifically to GPU voltage (they scale together). As soon as my 290X reaches ~ 1.25V, the screen goes black. This happens periodically in GPU intensive games, but can more easily be triggered by offsetting the VDDC voltage +50mV in any overclocking utility.
Could someone who owns this screen verify this?
“or whatever refresh rate the screen is set to” What other refresh rate settings can you use? I know a few other monitors have the options for 144, 120 and 60. what does this one do?
I ended up getting one of these on sale for $399 :p It’s a really good monitor as stated in this review, i really am impressed with this top tier 8bit TN panel which looks amazing. I’ll be good with this monitor for another 6-7years till 4k becomes mainstream 🙂
dude it pisses me off that im trying to find a new monitor and these old ass monitors are still so high priced, then i see your comment from a year ago on the one monitor i thought might be right. great.
Ya i know, i commented a year ago on its high price and wished it cost $299usd. I ended up finding this monitor on sale for $399usd and just made the jump cause my eyes needed a treat and were getting wrecked with a normal monitor. The low blue light and no flickering is amazing and helps tremendously with long sessions. GL with your decision, i don’t think monitors will go down in price anytime soon as they keep tweaking a tiny feature and keep the price high and then discontinue the older models.
im struggling to find anything that can compete for price to be honest. from an owner perspective is it good? might have to just bite the bullet
Ya its great, i have no real complaints. It even has a great freesync range of 35-144hz
Do you like anti-glare coating on this monitor (MG278Q)
ya it works and it doesn’t dull the screen or colors at all. For comparison the BenQ xl2411Z seems like a grainy overlay on top of the screen vs this one which you can’t notice at all unless you put your face to the screen.